What's Your Backstory?

One commonly overlooked tool in the publicity-seeker's toolbox is the backstory.

Backstories are the "story behind the headline", the history, the background, or even the anecdotes that give life to an otherwise dry story.

They're a staple of prime time news shows and they're what you see in almost any sporting event, when the camera cuts from the game into the story of the life and history of one of the players.

And they can be a powerful tool for getting publicity for your company!

The key is to recognize that every company, product or situation has a backstory. Your challenge is to convey your backstory in an interesting way.

And backstories can be multi-level, each the source of another article.

For a doctor, a backstory could be created around:
- The experience that made her want to enter medicine
- Experiences from her medical school training and residencies (filled with Grey's Anatomy-type experiences)
- The story of the most difficult case she's ever faced
- Interviews with patients who's life she has changed
- Humorous situations she's encountered in her practice
- The story of a resident or intern she's mentored
- Stories of her staff, lab, and other co-workers
- How this busy doctor is also a gourmet cook (how about a Thanksgiving story about how the skills she uses in surgery can be used by the average homemaker to prepare the world's most succulent turkey?)
- Her daily life description, written diary style (4:36 am: Pager goes off)

Can you see how these types of stories could add to the public persona of a doctor much better than another press release about how she's added yet another doctor to her team?

For a manufacturer, it could be:
- How their business got started
- Tracing a product the consumer commonly knows, and how their firm plays a part in making it, making a machine that makes it, or makes a part that is used in it
- Profiling one of the key people working in the business both professionally and personally (this can be repeated over and over again using different people)
- The unique stores behind the machines they use in their plant (where they come from, why they're perfect for this company)
- The economic impact this company has on the community
- How they are working to preserve/improve the environment
- Humorous incidents they've faced in the workplace
- How they are caring for their people (childcare, education, healthcare)
- How insurance rates or gas prices are affecting their business

Again, these types of stories can nicely flesh out a publicity program normally focused on regular news release type announcements.

How do you get backstories published?

Usually it's not through sending out a standard press release.

In our experience it comes from calling a reporter and pitching a specific backstory to them. Be very prepared as you make the call - you're now in quick story-telling mode, and you're trying to show how your story will be of interest to their audience.

Recognize that the normal reporter who reports on your "beat" may not be the right one in this particular story. Your story on childcare in the workplace may need to go to the lifestyles beat rather than the business beat. But if it doesn't get picked up there, pitch it to the business reporter too!

Another way to get backstories run is to write them up and send the finished article to the reporter. That way they see the full story and can judge whether it will be of worth. They may run it as is, or they may get involved and research their own story.

But the best way we've found to get backstories run is to pitch the reporter while they are in the middle of working with you on a main story. Imagine that you're in an interview with a reporter. A logical line may be "you know, I was just thinking about some really fascinating stories from my residency days. With the popularity of Grey's Anatomy, they may be a great backstory you could do in a month or so. Should we put a date on the calendar to interview again?"

One key tip, never let a reporter, (especially one who initiated the contact), out of your office, or off the phone, without pitching another angle they may want to purse at some point in the future.

And finally - keep in mind that backstories are even less promotional than normal stories (which can only be minimally so.) These are opportunities for you to build your recognition level with the community. But, even though they may not be promotional, they can often be even more valuable to you, because they will usually get better placement, longer story length, better photo coverage, and better readership. They're worth pursuing and are definitely should be added to your PR strategy this month!

And, for more information on pitching stories to reporters, check out Secrets of Perfect Pitching to Reporters

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Tags: backstory publicity doctor manufacturer